Warm Weather Formal Wedding Dress

Shannon and I grew up sharing each other's clothes. The "sharing" part, however, did not always go smoothly. On more than one occasion our knock out drag out fights involved clothing. We laugh so hard about those moments now because..... maturity. There is no one I would rather share clothing with than this little love bug. There are so many reasons why I am so lucky to have Shannon as my little sister. We get to share clothes. Giggle about things that only we think are funny since we grow up together and have the same sense of humor. Time is flying by and soon she will be graduating from COLLEGE! WUT. It does not seem real. Just the other day I was making her play dress up with me and dressing her up in little outfits. It seems not much has really changed. Check out the beautiful dress Shannon is wearing in Houston for a wedding. Tooo cute. Love the simplicity of it. I think you get the running theme happening over here... simple is always better. 

Remnants from San Diego

It snowed yesterday in Chicago so I am officially having the post-vacation-end-of-March-where-is-spring blues! Cue- looking through vacation photos to only add to the longing for warmth. At the beginning of our trip to San Diego I took so many great pictures of Matt in front of this amazing wall, and then we lost all of them as a result of the tragic phone stealing of 2015. I literally wanted to cry, because 1) the phone is expensive and 2) I had so many amazing pictures that were lost! Luckily, my fiance is the worlds sweetest man and knows I love taking pictures for my blog so he let me use his phone. All the while Matt was completely terrified that someone was going to text him about the upcoming proposal while I was using his phone and the surprise would be ruined. Luckily, 1) I am generally completely oblivious and 2) get wayyy too distracted by instagram anyway so I never caught on. Here are some of the lost photos from the beginning of our trip. 

^^ Umm how amazing is this super pink tree? And I had a pink bike! Perfection. 

^^ Exploring the seal caves. 

^^ literally these flowers are my obsession. How beautiful right? Isn't it amazing that God naturally created things this beautiful! 

Martha Stewart Wedding Expo

 

Wedding planning is in full swing! It is amazing how much fun the whole process can be when you really keep it simple. However, yesterday I veered away from 'simple' and went to to the Martha Stewart Wedding Expo at the Ritz Carlton in Chicago. The venue showcased all different wedding photographers, wedding planners, designers and dresses. Walking around with all these newly engaged girls and getting to try cake and champagne samples and see beautiful floral arrangements, literally felt like heaven. My inner sorority recruitment chair came out in full swing. I took lots of pictures for inspiration and thought you would love to see them as well! :) 

^^ Love the cleanness of this table and the simplicity of the floral arrangement.

^^ This color scheme is everything. And these assorted blue and white vases?! Die. 

^^ Did I mention that there were tons of cake samples??

3.7.15

"The Thief comes only to kill and destroy but I have come so that you may have life and have it to the full." John 10:10 

I do not know that I have ever been more overwhelmed by the goodness and faithfulness of God than I have been the past couple of days. I keep walking around in a complete daze, rocked by the awesomeness of Jesus. I am getting married to a man that I fell in love with the moment that we first saw each other. Literally the moment we locked eyes I knew that he was my husband. Story book love at first sight. My heart dropped and that was it.  Done deal. 

When we went on our first date I was completely blown away by how uniquely perfect he was for me. I never wanted it to end. He did things and said things that I had thought before- it was like I just immediately got him. Matt is above and beyond everything that I could have ever hoped for. And now I get to spend the rest of my life growing and walking through life with him. I can barely breathe thinking about it. It is a complete miracle that is completely and totally the biggest blessing of my life. 

I could not have even dared to dream about someone like Matt a couple of years ago. I was just getting to know Jesus and had some big steps of faith to take in romantic relationships. At every step of faith, I made it knowing that Jesus was enough, but also feeling like I was going to be alone forever. I stepped away from relationships that weren't honoring to God and at every point had to make peace with the idea that God would honor those steps of faith. I remember spending countless nights praying to God that God would prepare my heart for my husband and that at the same time He would protect him and bring him to me quickly. The road to meeting Matt has been messy, often filled with tears, and a lot of longing. It has been dirty and often times full of despair. 

If you are walking that road now, I want to grab your hand, hold you and tell you to hang on. My heart breaks for those in this place because I have walked that road and I know it is nothing short of completely heart wrenching. But God is faithful. He will honor those big steps of obedience. He will show up bigger for you than you could possibly ever have dared to imagine. He is working. He is moving pieces around in your life during those nights spent praying in tears. He will show up. This I know. He is worthy of your trust. 

I want to plead with those girls, like me who were completely terrified to take those steps of faith and tell you to step away from the doubt and to do it now. Now. Do not wait. God is faithful. He is going to show up. He knows you better than you know yourself and is going to provide accordingly. You deserve more. And there is so much more. 

He has come so that you may have LIFE and have it to the FULL. I have never been more full and more thankful.  We are getting married!!! Eeeekkkkkkkkkkkkk !! I can NOT even wait. 

Acai Bowls, Hikes and Cherry Trees

Before we left for San Diego, Matt kept telling me how much better the Mexican food is in California than it is in Chicago. San Diego has tons of really good drive through Mexican places as well as one of the best breakfasts I have ever had. (See acai bowl, from Swarmies above). 

^^ After the big moment, we came back to the sweetest celebration table from Matt's grandma and his mom.

^^ So, so cute! 

^^ Matt showed me around his old neighborhood and we went hiking up the mountain which was close by. 

 ^^ King of the Hill 

^^ So much natural beauty! 

 ^^the cherry trees at the Chinese garden in Balboa Park

^^ More bike rides around the Del Coronado 

San Diego, Part 1

Matt and I spent the weekend in San Diego for what is safe to say was the most amazing, memorable, doesn't get better than this kind of weekend of my entire life. I have so many pictures to process through that I wanted to slowly savor them and sit in the memories for a little. Now I am starting to get back into the swing of (somewhat) normal life and am starting to move through editing and uploading pictures from the beginning of our trip. I can not even wait to show you all the pictures from the most incredible moment of my life....! Looking back on them just makes me think I might have been in a scene from the best movie ever. 

^^ Matt's mom went out of her way to show us all around some of the best spots in San Diego.

Matt grew up in San Diego and was able to show me all around the city. There is literally no shortage of things to do there and we took full advantage of it. I loved getting to see the drop dead gorgeous beaches and walking paths. We did lots of biking which may have been some of my favorite parts of the trip. San Diego was much bigger and more bustling than I had expected. The city itself feels like an actual big city, except that there is so much natural beauty that you want to just stay outside in the sun 24/7. 

Much more to come! I am going to try and move through little segments one at a time....